Amidst claims and counter claims over the fate of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to the Undergraduate and Postgraduate medical courses for admission to MBBS and MD/MS in the country from academic year 2013-14, the Centre has clarified that more than 26 writ petitions filed in various High Courts have been transferred to the Supreme Court and any exclusion would depend upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the pending transfer petitions.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has notified amendments in its regulations to conduct common entrance viz. NEET for admission to Undergraduate (NEET UG) and Postgraduate (NEET PG) medical courses in the country from 2013-14. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been identified as the agency for conducting NEET UG and National Board of Examinations (NBE) for NEET PG.

According to Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, majority of the state governments have accepted the NEET but with exceptions to few states who have expressed apprehensions about the test which pertain to syllabus, medium of test, reservation of policy, etc. The Ministry has claimed that most of the apprehensions have been addressed. The MCI regulations on NEET clearly indicate that the prevailing reservation policy of State governments would not be disturbed. Moreover, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu and Assamese apart from Hindi and English have already been accepted as medium for administering the test.

However a few medical colleges and State governments have filed writ petitions in respective High Courts seeking exemption / exclusion from NEET. More than 26 such writ petitions have been transferred to the Supreme Court of India and the matter is sub-judice and any exclusion would depend upon the decision of Supreme Court in the pending transfer petitions, was told by the Centre recently in the Parliament.

The NEET PG is already underway from 23 November while the first NEET UG shall be conducted in May 2013 for the MBBS for all the 271 medical colleges, out of which 138 are run by the Government and remaining 133 colleges are being run by the private managements. There are around 32,000 MBBS seats and 12,000 PG seats to compete for in NEET.